The present invention relates to a dispensing head for actuating a dispensing mechanism, such as, for example, a valve or a pump, to dispense a product contained in a container via at least one dispensing orifice. For example, the dispensing head may be used to dispense a cosmetic product contained in a container. The dispensing head of the present invention is particularly suited for use with pressurized containers, for example containers pressurized by means of a propellent gas that may be separated from the product by a piston. For example, these types of containers are used to package and dispense hair products, such as a spray, a lacquer, a mousse, a gel or a cream, or bodycare products.
A conventional dispensing head having a relatively simple structure is in the form of a push-button. Such push-button dispensing heads may be made of materials such as polyethylene or polypropylene. These dispensing heads include a connecting sleeve that is push-fitted onto the exterior surface of a pump or valve stem, which generally is in the form of a hollow tubular element. This push-fit serves to seal the connection between the dispensing head and the pump or valve stem. The push-button forms a surface that can be pressed, allowing the pump or valve to be actuated.
A more sophisticated type of dispensing head includes a band mounted fixedly on a container, and having a part that can move with respect to the band to connecting element communicating with a dispensing orifice of the head is push-fitted onto the valve or pump stem, thus sealing the connection between the dispensing head and the pump or valve stem.
Not all of the valves made by manufacturers have valve stems of the same outside diameter. Thus, valves made by different manufacturers may have diameters that vary on the order of 0.5 mm or more. Thus, a dispensing head may be suitable for a valve made by one manufacturer but ill-suited for a valve made by another manufacturer. This is because the connection of any given dispensing head to a valve when accomplished by a push-fit, and therefore a sealed fit, on a valve of one inner diameter will not be a push-fit onto a different type of valve using a valve stem of a different inner diameter. In general, the same is true of pumps.
Thus, each type of pump or valve entails the manufacture of a dispensing head using a mold specific to the size of the pump or valve stem. This substantially increases the cost of manufacture. Moreover, push-fit connections sometimes pose problems with regard to the manufacturing tolerances on the various parts that have to be assembled.
BE-A-560,115 describes a valve stem on which a push-button is mounted. A push-button connecting element is configured to be inserted inside the valve stem. The connecting element is of constant exterior cross section. Consequently, assuming that this connecting element is intended to make a seal, it can be fitted in a sealed manner only on valve stems having substantially identical inside diameters.
In EP-A-0,734,969, an element is configured to be inserted inside the valve stem. The element has a constant exterior cross section. The interior cross section of the sealing element varies in the axial direction. However, this variation has no effect on the stem diameters on which the element can be fitted in a sealed manner. Thus, as was the case with BE-A-560,115, assuming that it is intended to make a seal, an element of this kind can form a seal only on valve stems having substantially identical insider diameters.
One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a xe2x80x9cuniversalxe2x80x9d dispensing head which solves all or some of the problems discussed hereinabove with reference to the conventional dispensing heads.
Another object of the invention is to provide a dispensing head which can be mounted on pump or valve stems having differing diameters.
It should be understood that the invention could be practiced without performing one or more of the preferred objects and/or advantages described above. Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.
To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention includes a dispensing head configured for actuating one of a pump and a valve, to dispense a product, such as, for example, a cosmetic product, via at least one dispensing outlet. The dispensing head includes a sealing element configured to sealingly engage with an inside surface of a stem of the dispensing member. The sealing element is configured to engage in a sealed manner with dispensing member stems of differing inside surface dimensions, especially differing inside surface diameters.
Thus, according to the invention sealing is achieved inside the pump or valve stem on which the dispensing head is mounted, making it possible by using a sealing element of appropriate shape to make a seal, regardless of the inner diameter of the pump or valve stem, at least within a given range. By way of example, the extent of such a range may be on the order of about one millimeter or more. In other words, a single dispensing head according to the invention could be used with stems having inner diameters differing by at least about one millimeter or more, for example. This then avoids the problem associated with the differences in diameter of pump or valve stems that are encountered between different manufacturers. It is thus possible to produce dispensing heads which can be fitted onto pump or valve stems which do not have the same diameter, and thus the same dispensing head may be used for different types of valves or pumps made by different manufacturers.
Preferably, the sealing element is formed by a skirt having an axially variable exterior cross section. As a preference, the exterior cross section of the sealing, element decreases gradually in a direction toward the dispensing member. Also as a preference, the sealing skirt forms a conical frustum whose vertex faces toward the dispensing member. Thus, the connecting element can be pushed into the pump or valve stem to a greater or lesser depth, depending on the inner diameter of the valve or pump stem, in order to sealingly engage with the stem.
According to another preferred aspect of the invention, unlike conventional devices, the dispensing head is attached to the dispensing member by a mechanism that is separate from that which provides the seal between the dispensing head and the pump or valve stem of the dispensing member. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the dispensing head comprises a connecting element configured to attach the dispensing head to the pump or valve stem of the dispensing member. The connecting element includes an elastically deformable means capable of pressing elastically against an exterior surface of the pump or valve stem. Thus, in the case of a push-button, the push-button is held on the pump or valve stem by the elastic grip of the connecting element on the pump or valve stem. However, this grip preferably does not make the sealed connection between the pump or valve stem and the dispensing head. Rather, the sealed connection is achieved by an auxiliary element engaging the inside of the pump or valve stem.
According to a preferred embodiment, the elastically deformable means includes a plurality of fins arranged on an interior surface of the connecting element. At least the free end of each fin is intended to engage elastically against an exterior surface of the pump or valve stem.
When mounted on the pump or valve stem, the fins may be orientated at a mean angle, at least at their free end, this angle ranging from 10xc2x0 to 80xc2x0 with respect to a radial direction to the connecting element.
Preferably, near a free end of the connecting element, the fins have a profile, for example a chamfered profile, which is able to assist with mounting the connecting element on the pump or valve stem. The free end of the pump or valve stem may also have a profile, for example a rounded or chamfered profile, able to encourage the fins to engage on the external surface of the pump or valve stem.
The at least one dispensing orifice may be formed in a diffuser member such as a nozzle, for example one which induces swirl, a grating, an open-cell or semi-open-cell foam or a sintered element, such as, for example, a ceramic or thermoplastic sintered element.
Another aspect of the invention includes an assembly for storing and dispensing a product, particularly a cosmetic product, The assembly includes a container containing the product. The assembly is fit with a dispensing member, particularly with a pump or a valve, and with a dispensing head according to the invention attached to the dispensing member. The dispensing head preferably is configured to dispense the product under pressure via at least one dispensing orifice or outlet.
The assembly may further include a pressurized assembly containing a product, particularly a cosmetic product, pressurized by means of a propellent gas or a piston, and surmounted by a valve. The valve may be of the type that has to be depressed or of the type that has to be pivoted.
A further aspect of the invention includes a dispensing head for actuating a dispensing member to dispense a product. The dispensing head comprises a body portion defining an outlet through which the product to be dispensed exits. The dispensing head further comprises a connecting member configured to provide flow communication between the outlet and a hollow interior defined by an inside surface of the dispensing member. The connecting member is configured to sealingly engage at least a portion of the inside surface of each of a plurality of dispensing members having differing inside surface dimensions. In a preferred embodiment, the connecting member is configured to sealingly engage dispensing members having substantially differing inside surface diameters.
In another aspect of the invention, the dispensing head forms a portion of a dispensing assembly having a container for containing the product to be dispensed, and a dispensing member on the container.
Yet another aspect of the invention includes a process for producing a dispensing assembly. The process includes providing the dispensing head and providing at least one container containing the product, the container including a dispensing member having one of a plurality of differing inside surface dimensions. The sealing element of the dispensing head is inserted into the dispensing member until the sealing element engages with the inside surface of the dispensing member. The dispensing head may then actuated to thereby actuate the dispensing member to dispense the product through the outlet.
Besides the structural and procedural arrangements set forth above, the invention could include a number of other arrangements, such as those explained hereinafter. It is to be understood that both the foregoing description and the following description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.